Türk Telekom’s net profits more than doubled in first quarter

ISTANBUL

Türk Telekom, Turkey’s prominent telecommunications company, racked up 7.6 billion Turkish Liras ($911.8 million) in consolidated revenues in the first quarter of 2021, posting an annual increase of 20.4 percent, it said in a press release yesterday.

In the meantime, its net profits more than doubled to reach 1.4 billion liras ($163.2 million) despite a currency depreciation, said the statement.

Türk Telekom’s investments in the first three months of this year rose by 40 percent to 1.3 billion liras ($156 million), it added.

The number of the company’s subscribers reached 50.6 million, with an increase of 2.2 million in the last 12 months.

“We have achieved a strong base to revise our expectations for 2021 upwards,” Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Under current circumstances, we are expecting a revenue growth of 16 percent, nearly 15.4 billion liras [$1.8 billion] in EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and 8 billion liras [$960 million] of investment spendings,” he added.

“In our investments, we will focus on expanding and upgrading the fixed and mobile networks, increasing capacity, digitalization, data centers and transition to 5G,” Önal also noted.

More than 600,000 Türk Telekom subscribers skipped from the asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) to a fiber broadband subscription package, according to Önal’s remarks. Currently, over 27 million households in Turkey connect to the internet via a Türk Telekom fiber package.

Türk Telekom is cooperating with Finnish telecom giant Nokia to develop its 5G network.

Recently, it also struck a deal with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) for the digital transformation of about 430,000 small and medium sized enterprises in Turkey’s commercial hub.

In March, the company’s general assembly decided to pay a dividend total of 1.9 billion liras ($228 million) in three installments.